Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts blog

We are pleased to announce the launch of a new themed collection in Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts (ESPI) on the topic of Transformation Products and Mixtures.

The identity and impact of many substances on the global market are not fully known because they are complex mixtures or can lead to potentially harmful transformation products. Though it is an expectation by regulators that the health and environmental impacts of chemical mixtures and transformation products are implicitly accounted for, this is very rarely done. High profile examples of harmful mixtures include chlorinated paraffins, alkyl-phenol ethoxylates. Of particular concern are so-called UVCBs (‘unknown or variable composition, complex reaction products or biological materials’) and polymer mixtures.

Recent high-profile examples of problematic transformation products include fire stabilizer 6PPD transforming to 6PPD quinone, which has been associated with acute fish toxicity, and several substances that form the rapidly accumulating human and environmental concentrations of trifluoracetic acid (TFA), a highly persistent, mobile and potentially toxic chemical. Innovative and prospective experimental and computational approaches to identifying unknown mixtures and transformation products that are potentially causing harm are urgently needed.

To address these challenges new experimental, analytical, modelling and cheminformatic tools are being developed that can help better identify the identity and impact of transformation products and mixtures, which will pave the way towards effective hazard and risk management. The challenge of addressing mixtures and transformation products represents in this a key frontier of environmental chemistry, chemical regulation and innovation.

Topics that may be included in this collection include, but are not necessarily limited to:

• Mixtures and/or transformation products in the environment
• New analytical Methods
• Computational Methods
• Predictive Approaches
• Screening Tools
• Health & Environmental Impact Studies
• Effect Directed Analysis
• Monitoring Studies
• Cheminformatics
• Policy Analysis
• Regulatory Strategies

The collection will be supported by Guest Editors Hans Peter Arp (Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Norwegian University of Science and Technology) and Gabriel Sigmund (Wageningen University & Research). We look forward to your contributions to this themed collection, which will highlight the latest advancements and foster continued innovation in the field of environmental sciences. The submission deadline is 30th September 2025.

If you’re interested, we invite you to submit your research today on our submissions platform, quoting ‘EMTrans25’ in the ‘Comments to the Editor’ when submitting your manuscript. You can get in touch with the editorial office with any questions you may have about this collection.

We are delighted to announce a special journal Symposium taking place at ACS Spring 2024 on Wednesday 20^th March.

This symposium will highlight high-quality, cutting-edge research carried out by rising stars in the environmental sciences, including presentations from members of our Editorial Boards as well as the recent Emerging Investigators of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Environmental Science journals – Environmental Science: Advances, Environmental Science: Atmospheres,  Environmental Science: Nano, Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts and Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology.

More information about ACS Spring can be found here, in addition to information on how to register. 

Symposium details:

When: Wednesday 20^th March (all-day)
Where: Room 224 (Ernst N. Morial Convention Center)

Speakers and talk titles:

8:35 AM Rachel O’Brien University of Michigan
Chemical characteristics of indoor aerosol particles and surface films

9:05 AM Jasquelin Peña UC Davis (Associate Editor, Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts)
Molecular-scale biogeochemistry of wildfire ash and burned soil: Implications for nutrient and metal cycles

9:35 AM Mohamed Ateia US EPA
PFAS-free alternatives: tools to avoid regrettable substitutions

10:25 AM Grace Thoburn Royal Society of Chemistry
Environmental Science Journals of the Royal Society of Chemistry

10:35 AM Chiara Giorio University of Cambridge
Contrasting solubilities and dissolution kinetics of particle-bound metals in fog and in a surrogate lung fluid

11:05 AM Kerri Pratt University of Michigan
Investigating atmospheric ClNO_2(g) production from the reaction of N₂O_5(g) with the saline snowpack

11:35 AM Manabu Shiraiwa UC Irvine
Multiphase Chemistry of reactive oxygen species in outdoor and indoor environments

2:05 PM Jeseth Delgado Vela Duke University
Genetic potential for phage-phage and phage-bacterial communication in wastewater treatment processes

2:35 PM Branko Kerkez University of Michigan (Editorial Board member, Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology)
Murky waters: untangling the role of AI in water management

3:05 PM Fangqiong Ling Washington University in St. Louis
Towards more accurate insights from wastewater-based epidemiology

3:50 PM Briana Aguila-Ames New College of Florida
Kinetics of diopside reactivity for carbon mineralization in mafic–ultramafic rocks

4:20 PM Yaqi You SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Carbonaceous materials as a modulator of plant rhizosphere: New insights into the microbiome and metabolome

The Royal Society of Chemistry was proud to be a sponsor of the China Environmental Mass Spectrometry Conference (CEMS), held March 24-27 2023 in Qingdao, China. The theme of this year’s conference was “Mass Spectrometry Makes the Environment a Better Place,” which was fully reflected by the cutting-edge work presented.

The theme of this year’s conference was “Mass Spectrometry Makes the Environment a Better Place,” which was fully reflected by the cutting-edge work presented.

Zongwei Cai (Editor-in-Chief of Environmental Science: Advances) acted as vice-chairman of this conference, Qian Liu (Associate Editor of Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts), Liwu Zhang (Associate Editor of Environmental Science: Advances), Zhen Liu (Associate Editor of Analytical Methods) were invited as plenary speakers.

The Environmental Science journals of the Royal Society of Chemistry were delighted to sponsor 10 Poster Prizes at this conference. Academician Hongyuan Chen presented the prizes to the recipients. We were extremely pleased to sponsor 10 poster award winners, which are listed below.

Many congratulations to the winners!

If you attended the conference and still have questions about our journals that you would like answered, please feel free to reach out to the editorial office or find a home for your research in our environmental portfolio.

The Royal Society of Chemistry’s Environmental Science journals were delighted to sponsor student poster presentation prizes at EMCON 2021, which took place Online (hosted by the University of Washington) from the 13th – 14th September this year.

Prizes were awarded to the following students, on behalf of Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts, Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology, Environmental Science: Nano, Environmental Science: Atmospheres and Environmental Science: Advances.

Christopher Knutson, University of Iowa
‘Computational approaches for the prediction of environmental transformation products: Chlorination of steroidal enones’

Jonathan Beherens, Duke University
‘Towards a Tiered Approach to Assess Effects of Contaminant Mixtures in Urban Streams’

Mira Chaplin, University of Michigan
‘Towards Predictive Models of Viral Inactivation by Chlorine’

Madhusudan Kamat, Louisiana State University
‘Use of UV LEDs for halogen based advanced oxidation processes for removal of micropollutants from DOM-rich water’

Sasha Gallimore, University at Buffalo
‘Assessing haloacetonitrile formation from model nitrogenous precursors’

Congratulations to Christopher, Jonathan, Mira, Madhusudan & Sasha!

We are delighted to announce that we have expanded the Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts Editorial Board and are very pleased to introduce the newest members of the team.

These Editorial Board members join the rest of the team adding expertise in topic areas such as environmental health & (eco)toxicology; atmospheric chemistry; environmental organic chemistry; interfacial environmental science and much more.

About the new team members

Katye Altieri’s research interests include air pollution in coastal cities, the impact of human activities on surface ocean biogeochemistry, and studying the remote marine atmosphere of the Southern Ocean.

Ludmilla Aristilde’s research group employs a combination of experimental and theoretical approaches to gain insights into the biological and chemical mechanisms that control environmental organic processes, towards predicting natural carbon cycling and innovating engineered carbon recycling.

Amila de Silva’s expertise areas are fate, transport and disposition of organic contaminants in the environment; she uses a combination of field and lab experiments to discern their ecological risk based on persistence, bioaccumulation, toxicity and long range transport potential.

Beate Escher’s research interests focus on mode-of-action based environmental risk assessment, including methods for initial hazard screening and risk assessment of pharmaceuticals, pesticides, disinfection by-products and persistent organic pollutants with an emphasis on mixtures.

Mingliang (Thomas) Fang’s research includes applications of mass spectrometry methods to identify emerging organic contaminants, measure human exposure, and assess potential health effects. Bioassays and omic technologies are also employed for risk assessment and identifying toxicity mechanisms.

Weihua Song’s research interests are in the area of Environmental Chemistry, particularly the occurrence, transformation, and fate of emerging contaminants in aqueous environments.

Read their work recently published in ESPI

We welcome all these new members to the Editorial team of ESPI. They join the existing team of Kris McNeill, Delphine Farmer, Marianne Glasius, Helen Hsu-Kim, Matt MacLeod, Desiree Plata, Paul Tratnyek and Lenny Winkel, with expertise covering all areas of the journal scope as shown in this illustration. Their breadth of expertise illustrates the breadth of research that we welcome to the journal.

Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts publishes high quality papers in all areas of the environmental chemical sciences, including chemistry of the air, water, soil and sediment. We welcome your future submissions to the journal in any of these topic areas and would be delighted to hear from you if you are interested to submit to us.

We also offer a range of Open Access solutions to comply with your funding requirements and maximise the visibility of your research. More details can be found at rsc.li/oa

CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO THE JOURNAL HOMEPAGE

Meet the ESPI team

We are delighted to announce that the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Environmental Science Journals are supporting the 7th International Conference on Emerging Contaminants!

This event will be held virtually on September 13-14, 2021, where you can expect to hear the latest research news and

discoveries about the environmental chemistry of emerging environmental contaminants and their management. Virtually reconnect with old colleagues, and meet new friends from around the world while discussing your exciting research and ideas together as a community.

EMCON 2021 will cover all aspects of emerging contaminant research while emphasizing cutting edge and novel research on microplastics, biomolecules, roadway runoff, transformation products, ecotoxicology, advanced mass spectrometry and other new analytical techniques, and new emerging contaminants as conference themes.

You can expect scientific talks, a virtual poster session (with five poster prizes supported by the RSC’s Environmental Science journals), a round of lightning talks, ‘what went wrong in lab’ stories and opportunities for informal meetups. Pre-recorded content will allow both synchronous and asynchronous attendance and interaction.

Find out more at https://cvent.me/7kvWG9

Abstract deadline: June 16th

Early bird registration deadline: July 1st 

Submit your abstract to emcon2021@uw.edu today!

The Royal Society of Chemistry’s Environmental Science journals are delighted to support the 49^th International Symposium on Halogenated Persistent Organic Pollutants (DIOXIN 2021), which takes place from August 22-25^th, 2021. The event will take place both at Xi’an Jianguo Hotel, Xi’an, China, and remotely, as live sessions will be streamed online.

The topics covered will include:

1. Sampling and analysis
2. Formation and emissions
3. Environmental persistent free radicals
4. Distribution, transport and fate
5. Exposure and Risk assessment
6. Toxicology and epidemiology
7. Control strategies and technologies
8. Implementation of the Stockholm Convention
9. POPs in polar regions: Arctic, Antarctic, and the Tibetan Plateau
10. Screening and recognition of novel contaminants

Key dates

Registration deadline: 31^st July 2021 │ Register here

Abstract Submission Deadline: 15^th June 2021 │  Submit your abstract here

Click here to find out more about DIOXIN 2021

We are delighted to share with you a hand-picked selection of papers recently published in Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts (ESPI).

HOT papers – as recommended by our Editors & Reviewers

Interactions of emerging contaminants with model colloidal microplastics, C₆₀ fullerene, and natural organic matter – effect of surface functional group and adsorbate properties
Tyler Williams et al

Biodegradation kinetics testing of two hydrophobic UVCBs – potential for substrate toxicity supports testing at low concentrations
Rikke Hammershøj et al

An emerging mobile air pollution source: outdoor plastic liner manufacturing sites discharge VOCs into urban and rural areas
Seyedeh Mahboobeh Teimouri Sendesi et al

Read more HOT papers at rsc.li/espi-hot

Reviews & Perspectives – timely overviews of key topics in environmental science

A review of aerosol chemistry in Asia: insights from aerosol mass spectrometer measurements
Wei Zhou et al

Passive air sampling for semi-volatile organic chemicals (Open Access)
Frank Wania and Chubashini Shunthirasingham

Effects of aging and weathering on immobilization of trace metals/metalloids in soils amended with biochar
Yuchi Zhong et al

Read more Reviews at rsc.li/espi-reviews

Open Access – read for free!

An overview of the uses of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)
Juliane Glüge et al

The importance of aromaticity to describe the interactions of organic matter with carbonaceous materials depends on molecular weight and sorbent geometry
Stephanie Castan et al

The ecological half-life of radiocesium in surficial bottom sediments of five ponds in Fukushima based on in situ measurements with plastic scintillation fibers
Estiner Walusungu Katengeza et al

Read more Open Access content at rsc.li/espi-oa

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We hope you enjoy reading these papers, and we welcome your future submissions to the journal.

Submit to Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts